House Assistant Majority Leader Zamboanga City 1st district Rep. Katrina Chua-Tai is seeking a congressional probe on the circumstances regarding the deadly Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting, which has rocked her home city as well as the entire nation.

Chua-Tai filed House Resolution (HR) No. 1379 on Tuesday, Aug. 18, mere hours after the tragedy took place at the learning institution in Barangay Tumaga, Zamboanga City.

The lady solon listed several goals for the inquiry. These include strengthening school safety and security measures, improving firearm storage and accountability regulations, fortifying mental health and psychosocial intervention programs, and strengthening anti‑bullying and threat assessment mechanisms.

She also finds the need to formulate a comprehensive national framework for the prevention of school‑based violence, as well as to ensure the protection of students, teachers, school personnel, and educational communities from acts of violence.

Authorities said a Grade 9 student armed with two firearms shot and killed another student before taking his own life at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus on Tuesday morning. Two others were injured and hundreds of students were evacuated during the ordeal, which was was disturbingly livestreamed by the shooter.

Chua-Tai said the incident "raises legitimate concerns regarding the effectiveness of existing school security procedures, including gate screening, visitor management, access- control systems, security personnel deployment, closed-circuit television monitoring, emergency communications, lockdown and evacuation procedures, coordination with law enforcement authorities, and the capacity of schools to respond rapidly to armed threats".

She justifies the House probe by saying that "School-based violence cannot be addressed solely through physical security measures and law enforcement interventions, but requires a whole-of-school and whole-of government approach."

HR No. 1379 tasks the appropriate House committee to invite and consult representatives of the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), Department of Health (DOH), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Firearms and Explosives Office, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), National Police Commission (Napolcom), local government units (LGUs), educational institutions, school administrators. teachers, guidance counselors, psychologists, child-protection specialists, security professionals parents, learners, and other relevant stakeholders

"The Committee/s shall ensure that any legislative recommendations arising from the inquiry are consistent with the Constitution, existing child- protection laws, due-process guarantees, data-privacy requirements, mental-health standards, and the rights and welfare of learners and educational personnel," the author said.

The Zamboanga shooting took place less than a month after the San Jose National High School shooting in Tacloban City, Leyte. Three students died from that incident.

For his part, Assistant Minority Leader Bagong Henerasyon (BH) Party-list Rep. Robert Nazal said the Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting should not be shrugged off as an isolated case, and that it should be taken very seriously.

Nazal said that swift legislative action was warranted.

“Sa gitna ng lungkot na ito, mas lalo nating nararamdaman ang agarang pangangailangan na kumilos. Panahon na para isulong at ipasa ang House Bill (HB) No. 10543 o Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Act of 2026,” he said.

(Amid this sadness, we feel even more the urgent need to act. It is time to push for and pass HB No. 10543 or the Safe Schools and Violence Prevention Act of 2026.)

“Sa ilalim ng panukalang ito, titiyakin natin na ang bawat paaralan ay may regular na risk assessments, malinaw at handang emergency plans, confidential reporting channels para sa mga alalahanin, at mabilis at epektibong pagtugon sa anumang banta ng karahasan,” noted Nazal.

(Under this proposed measure, we will ensure that every school has regular risk assessments, clear and ready emergency plans, confidential reporting channels for concerns, and swift and effective responses to any threat of violence.)

The bill calls for the establishment of a unified National Safe Schools Framework covering prevention, protection, preparedness, response, and recovery across public and private basic, higher and technical-vocational education institutions,

Schools will be required to conduct annual safety risk assessments and maintain an updated School Safety and Emergency Preparedness Plan addressing crisis management, medical response, inclusive arrangements, and learning continuity.